The Risk of Prayer

I’m sure you have heard the saying about prayer, “Be careful what you ask for. You might just get it!” There is this other one, however, “God doesn’t give us what we ask for. He gives us what we expect.” The risk in praying is not so much in getting that for which we ask as it is in realizing that all we are getting is what we expected, and that is far less than our request or what God wanted to give us.

We often pray believing God is all-powerful, but at the same time believe his power will not be revealed in answering our requests. We ask for great things, but are not surprised when nothing much happens. On the other hand we are astounded when our prayers are answered and act as if an unexpected miracle has occurred.

One of my favorite authors on prayer is Andrew Murray, and one of my favorite books by him is With Christ in the School of Prayer. Murray takes his reader deep into the questions we raise about prayer: appropriate topics, perseverance, faith for answered prayers, response to unanswered prayers, requirements for answered prayer. He speaks to the question of risking prayer that reveals the depth of our faith as he says, “We do not live close enough to God to be capable of the confidence that He will answer…Let us pray for a life in union with Christ, so that His compassion streams into us and His Spirit assures that our prayer is heard.” (Chapter 9)

The 18^th chapter of Luke focuses upon prayer and the perseverance that is often needed. It also includes tips on the kind of prayer that gets God’s attention and brings about results. There is risk involved, however, in those two initial parables Jesus uses to teach on prayer. In the first the risk is in making the faith-filled commitment to continue praying even when the answer is silence. Perseverance is a statement of faith. I believe even when I see nothing happening.

The Pharisee in the second parable knows little of the faith being exercised by the tax collector. He finds no risk in expounding upon his self-righteousness. He prays only to himself. The sinner off in the corner alone is risking everything by being honest in confession before God.

The leper who met Jesus as recorded in the opening verses of Matthew, chapter 8, dares to place his faith in Christ on the line when he said, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” Such a statement revealed trust in power but uncertainty in desire. The leper uttered a prayer of faith in the power of God, but he uttered no confident assurance that God would respond. He risked his perception of a compassionate God in that simple request.

For prayer to have power, a risk must be taken. Faith without risk is not faith. Prayer without faith cannot have power. We pray to a God we cannot control. We pray to a God whose ultimate will trumps our own. We pray to a God whom we can only understand through his revelation in Jesus Christ. We pray to the One we are told we should see as our Father, the Father who will give us what we need. We pray to the One who knows what we need better than we ourselves. Our prayers consist of the risk of throwing ourselves before him and believing he will do what is best.

Prayer that has substance involves the risk of giving up our own will in surrender to the divine will. Jesus understood this well. (Matthew 26:36-46) The Pharisee of Matthew 18 didn’t learn this. Too many people today who say they pray still have not learned it. The honest prayer of faith brings power, but it involves risk. (James 5:16) Such prayer also says you had better be ready to respond according to God’s answer.

God’s the Owner, But We’re Accountable

Earth Day is Monday, April 22. This year the focus is upon climate change and how that impacts human society and the natural world around us. People on every continent will be called upon to see how man’s interaction with nature may be hurting it. Whatever your feelings may be concerning the reality of climate change and its causes, the truth is by living on this planet you are affecting it.

I grew up on a farm. We grew most of our food. It was not unusual on a mid-summer day to look around the dinner table and note the only thing we had not raised was the cornbread. My mother refused to use the corn meal my father would occasionally try to grind. The milk, the beef, the vegetables, and the fruit had all been raised on our farm. My father’s guiding philosophy was “Take care of the land and it will take care of you.” Another part of my father’s philosophy concerning farming was expressed one day while surveying a 20-acre field of half grown corn. Leaning on a gate at the edge of the field, Pop said, “It’s good to be able to work with God and raise a crop like this.”

The East African word of wisdom has much truth, but it comes up a little short. “We have not inherited the earth from our parents. We have borrowed it from our children.” It misses the issue of true ownership. While we care for the land, we are stewards, but stewardship is far more than a matter of economics. It is far more than just acknowledging that others will use the land after we are gone.

It is a matter of understanding who the real Owner is and acting accordingly. It is a matter of understanding the world is not ours to do with as we please. It is a matter of understanding the consequences of our actions not just for the generations who follow us but also in our accountability before the One who is both Creator and Owner.

The Psalmist wrote, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” (Psalm 24:1, RSV) A good steward will care for what does not belong to him in the same way he would if it was his own. He will make sure it is there for him next year even though he must use it this year. He will understand even as he depends upon that resource so will those who come after him whether it is to be his children or a stranger.

Humanity is a steward of this planet and its resources. Even if we had other planets to which we could go as colonists, we would still have a responsibility for this world. The fact that we are stewards would not change. We have a responsibility. We must consider ourselves accountable. To our children, yes, but even more so we must consider ourselves accountable to the One Creator and Owner.

Global warming may well indeed be related to the way we have used our natural resources. It may be related more to the fact of our wastefulness than our simple use of those resources. Even if we have used the resources in a responsible way, when we impact our environment in a way that changes it, we are to be held accountable. We must live in this world in a way that shows we are not thinking in a sense of personal ownership.

Christians more than any others should understand their positions as stewards. Caring for the earth should come as a natural part of worship of the Creator. Recycling is good economics for both the present and the future. Using fewer resources for personal desires makes more materials available to meet the needs of the poor and more food for those facing hunger. Good stewardship of the earth should always point to a responsibility for our fellow man.

Earth Day should be every day for those who honor the Creator above the creation.

What’s In This For Me?

The Golden Rule of Matthew 7:12 offers a fascinating study of how our society can corrupt a simple verse on scripture. Perversions of the principle can appear as “Do to others what you want”, “Do to others before they do to you”, “Do to others as (if) they do to you”, and “Do to others so they’ll do to you”. That last one has become translated into the modern vernacular through the statement “I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine.”

Motivation for our actions was a major concern of Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount is filled with references related to motivation. Near the end of his Gospel, Matthew shares with us the well-known parable of the master distributing sums of money for his servants to invest during his absence. (Matthew 25:14-30) We most often focus upon the conclusion of the parable and the sad destiny of the fearful servant. Perhaps the beginning of the parable also has something to teach us.

The master distributes the funds to three servants, “to each according to his ability” (RSV). He leaves the country and each of the servants proceeds to do what he sees as best. Even though the end of the parable says there is a response from the master to their work, both positive and negative, at the beginning there is no promise of any response. Servants were expected to do their work. Period.

In Luke 17:7-10 Jesus shares an example carrying a similar theme. Jesus instructs his disciples about the responsibilities of a servant before his master. He emphasizes that masters are under no obligation to thank their servants for work accomplished. The servant in conclusion says, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.”

Operation Inasmuch is an effort by which good people get out of their religious seats and go out into a sinful world with one purpose: reveal the love of God in word and deed. When asked why they are doing random acts of kindness without pay, the response is a simple “for the love of God.” Those servants in the parable of Jesus did not ask their master what was in it for them if they proved to be productive in their investment efforts. The servants described in Matthew 17 did not feel they deserved or even expected a reward from their master. The ministry known as Operation Inasmuch is an effort to live out the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:16 and 25:40, let “men see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

“What’s in it for me” is a philosophy that has lessened or prevented the positive influence of many otherwise good deeds. When our primary motivation for serving others is to bring something to ourselves, then we will look also at what we might lose. That will draw us up short every time. We measure risks. We measure potential personal loss. We even measure what someone else might get out of our actions instead of it coming to us.

Today is a good day to begin an evaluation of our motivations. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said to let our good deeds point people to the heavenly Father. The Apostle Paul reminds us the end goal of our worship of Christ is to bring glory to the heavenly Father. (Philippians 2:11) At some point we have to make, what is for us selfish humans, the giant step of prioritizing the idea when God gets it all and we get nothing, then we receive the most.

A servant finds his reward in knowing he has been obedient and giving his best. A child of God finds his reward in knowing that he has pointed all glory to God. That all sounds simple, but it is easy to slip back and wonder, “What’s in this for me”. What’s your motivation?

So You’re Going Fishing

Holy Week can involve tremendous excitement, a deepened spiritual journey, and a weariness that takes more than a single Monday of recovery time especially for a church staff. Planning has taken weeks and for some leaders months. The special services may begin with Palm Sunday and extend through Easter evening. For others there is a selection of special events scattered throughout the week.

On Resurrection Sunday, the day may begin with a pre-dawn service commemorating the resurrection and the discovery of the empty tomb. Following that might be a family of faith breakfast, a joint Bible study class, and finally a worship service that involves a musical presentation or an evangelistic sermon highlighting the importance of Holy Week.

By Sunday evening pastor and staff, paid and volunteer, are just plain tired. One member looks at the calendar and sees that Advent season is only eight months away. In between are a spring revival, Vacation Bible School, a mission trip out-of-state, a youth fundraiser, the start of a new church year, and the fall events of October and November. If not already exhausted, looking at the calendar will make you so.

With all that Holy Week represents, let me recommend not going fishing now that it is over. In the 21^st chapter of the gospel of John, we read that Jesus had already appeared to the disciples to show that the empty tomb was not some kind of hoax. All the enthusiasm of death conquered was present. The Risen Lord had revealed himself and given additional instructions to the Twelve. Within a few days of this once-in-eternity event, the majority of the disciples under the leadership of Peter decided to go fishing.

Now in and of itself there is nothing wrong with fishing. Along with Peter at least half of the disciples were probably fishermen. Jesus in fact used the occasion to continue to teach the disciples what he expected of them. Yet with all that had just happened, Peter could only see the priority for his life as being the need to go fishing.

It was not as if the apostles had no idea as to what they should do between Jesus’ appearances. On that first night when the disciples saw him in the upper room, Jesus had told them, “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” (20:21) Jesus had come with a clear message, “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17, 10:7) That message had already gone out earlier through the disciples. The message remained the same. The responsibility remained the same. Instead the disciples went fishing for fish instead of for men.

Yes, Jesus met the disciples where they had decided to go. He fixed them breakfast. He asked Peter if he was ready to get back to the work of the Kingdom of God. He looked his bold and confused chief disciple in the eye and told him that the destiny of others was none of his business. Obedience to the demands of the Kingdom was to be his only concern.

Holy Week is over. Pastors and church staff are tired. Members are glad that there is only one sunrise service each year. Yet the Master calls us to see that the fields are white with the harvest of lost souls. The stormy seas are filled with the souls of men who will be lost if we do not catch them.

The first Holy Week began a series of events that through the centuries transformed empires, motivated social reform, changed moral systems, and turned men’s eyes from survival to celebration. The God who raised Jesus his Son from the dead has commanded that such transformation continue in society and in the lives of individuals. It is easy to get sidetracked on matters limited to this world, but we cannot afford to spend the week after Easter on a fishing trip that targets only fish.